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Rickles' Book by Don Rickles β€” book cover

Rickles' Book

by Don Rickles, David Ritz
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Overview

Why you need to buy RICKLES' Book immediately:

RICKLES' BOOK will help you win friends and influence people.

RICKLES' BOOK will introduce you to all of his famous friends, from Frank Sinatra to Johnny Carson.

RICKLES' BOOK will help you lose weight.

RICKLES' BOOK will help you gain weight.

RICKLES' BOOK will improve your love life.

RICKLES' BOOK will make you cry. (If your love life doesn't improve.)

RICKLES' BOOK will make you laugh. (If your love life does improve.)

RICKLES' BOOK will make you love one of the great Americans of our time, Don Rickles.

RICKLES' BOOK will give you something to talk about at parties. (If you're ever invited to parties.)

RICKLES' BOOK, along with the Bible and War and Peace, will grace your bookshelf and upgrade your literary status.

RICKLES' BOOK will keep you up at night.

RICKLES' BOOK will put you to sleep at night.

RICKLES' BOOK will make you rich. (If you treasure great humor.)

Synopsis

Why you need to buy RICKLES' Book immediately:

RICKLES' BOOK will help you win friends and influence people.

RICKLES' BOOK will introduce you to all of his famous friends, from Frank Sinatra to Johnny Carson.

RICKLES' BOOK will help you lose weight.

RICKLES' BOOK will help you gain weight.

RICKLES' BOOK will improve your love life.

RICKLES' BOOK will make you cry. (If your love life doesn't improve.)

RICKLES' BOOK will make you laugh. (If your love life does improve.)

RICKLES' BOOK will make you love one of the great Americans of our time, Don Rickles.

RICKLES' BOOK will give you something to talk about at parties. (If you're ever invited to parties.)

RICKLES' BOOK, along with the Bible and War and Peace, will grace your bookshelf and upgrade your literary status.

RICKLES' BOOK will keep you up at night.

RICKLES' BOOK will put you to sleep at night.

RICKLES' BOOK will make you rich. (If you treasure great humor.)

Publishers Weekly

Insult comic Rickles has written a feel-good memoir that's loaded with photos and sentiment. The only son of loving parents, today he's an 80-year-old grandfather who still performs nationwide. The most interesting bits—his climb to the top—are told only in broad strokes. The tone is friendly and conversational, however, as he describes, among other things, his style: "I found a distinct sense of sarcasm and humorous exaggeration." Rickles wanted to be a serious actor, but he started as a comic in strip clubs and worked his way up. His break came when Sinatra heard him—and he used Sinatra's influence to get him better gigs. Yet for a guy famous for calling others a "hockey puck," Rickles's story is Hollywood lite. There's no backstage drama, no sex, no gossip. When he name-drops celebrities, it's always in glowing terms. We learn of his short-lived TV shows, CPO Sharkeyand The Don Rickles Show, and how voicing Mr. Potato Head in Toy Storyjump-started his later career. Those looking for a sardonic autobiography will be disappointed; Rickles accentuates the positive. If he has a bad word to say about anyone, he'll probably save it for his act. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

About the Author, Don Rickles

Don Rickles is looking for his first big break in show business. If you have a gig for him, contact his agent (as soon as he gets one).

David Ritz has collaborated on the autobiographies of everyone from Aretha Franklin to Ray Charles. This is his first attempt at sacred writing.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Don Rickles's irreverent, rat-a-tat-tat humor has been entertaining crowds for over half a century. Against all logic, this "nasty insult comedian" has become a beloved figure, even among the targets of his caustic quips. This memoir recaps not only his colorful career but also his early life as a nice, poor Jewish kid from Queens and his happy, resilient marriage.

Publishers Weekly

Insult comic Rickles has written a feel-good memoir that's loaded with photos and sentiment. The only son of loving parents, today he's an 80-year-old grandfather who still performs nationwide. The most interesting bitsβ€”his climb to the topβ€”are told only in broad strokes. The tone is friendly and conversational, however, as he describes, among other things, his style: "I found a distinct sense of sarcasm and humorous exaggeration." Rickles wanted to be a serious actor, but he started as a comic in strip clubs and worked his way up. His break came when Sinatra heard himβ€”and he used Sinatra's influence to get him better gigs. Yet for a guy famous for calling others a "hockey puck," Rickles's story is Hollywood lite. There's no backstage drama, no sex, no gossip. When he name-drops celebrities, it's always in glowing terms. We learn of his short-lived TV shows, CPO Sharkeyand The Don Rickles Show, and how voicing Mr. Potato Head in Toy Storyjump-started his later career. Those looking for a sardonic autobiography will be disappointed; Rickles accentuates the positive. If he has a bad word to say about anyone, he'll probably save it for his act. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Kirkus Reviews

Big-time insult comic decides to write a book. A stand-up headliner since Jackie decorated the White House, Rickles is a comic commotion, liberally dispensing ad lib offense to all those hockey-puck patrons. In person, he murders. But in this knockoff autobiography, he bombs. He tells us what we don't want to know: that Don Rickles is a regular guy, a family guy, a human being. Out of Queens, and after the Navy, he was a feckless salesman before getting into show biz. He played the compulsory Jersey dumps attended by the dour mobsters who populate accounts of this sort. He booked bar mitzvahs in Brooklyn and weddings in Miami. He got an agent (in addition to personal representative Mom), gigs in Vegas and movies. Reputed to approach off-color material onstage, Rickles doesn't work blue on paper. His yarn is bland, and the shallow writing-blame co-author Ritz-can't be salvaged even when recalling great one-liners of yesteryear. In classic show-biz memoir fashion, names are dropped with abandon: Robards and Newhart, Carson and Sinatra (the Chairman of the Board at his most imperious), some presidents and a pope, even Mr. Potato Head. But a memoir isn't the right format for this cantankerous old comic now into his ninth decade; Wikipedia may offer the better assessment of Rickles' life. Those who just don't get Rickles, and there are many, won't be entertained. Fans, and they are legion, would do well to overlook this slight text, too. Get into the old tux, Rickles, and get back to work. And we say that, of course, with love. Agent: Mel Berger/William Morris Agency

Book Details

Published
June 1, 2008
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Pages
256
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780743293068

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